Falsely accused of extra guests

pb4uski said:
Then I would never rent from you. When I rent, I am renting the property and if specified a stated number of people overnight... but if I want to have some friends and family over to socialize and they don't stay overnight then I will... and we will respect your property and leave it as we found it (or cleaner). If that make you uncomfortable then you shouldn't be in that business.

ETA: I guess that makes at least two of us.... you're on a roll.
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are you referring rent as general rent or short term like OP's?

Most of airbnb or short terms are clear no party stuff.

also, I have regular renting. I dont mind they invite friends or family to enjoy their time.

I use formal contract MO state real agent use. there is specification how many ppl dwell there and it is based on occupancy permit which has specific number of ppl can live per the squarefoot.

also, it specify no more than 2 weeks if somebody stay there temporary.

But if they allow ppl moving in without telling me is a problem because it can be trouble when insurance claim or violate occupant number etc.

yes, I totally agree I am not good personality fit for rental business. But business is business which can cause a lot of troubles in liability.
 
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ikubak said:
I am out maybe $100, probably less. DW and I ended up at my nephew's house 15 miles away on his floor with a blow up mattress.

You're probably thinking, dude, let it go. My brain is with you on that. It's a cheap lesson in the game of life. Let the next guy deal with him.

My heart on the other hand say guests should not be treated like that and the company needs to know about it.
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I would not go to much trouble for $100. I guess I’d contest the charge with my cc company, but not sure I’d do much work to deal with it. I’d leave a scathing review and move on. Life’s too short.
 
ikubak said:
I am out maybe $100, probably less. DW and I ended up at my nephew's house 15 miles away on his floor with a blow up mattress.

You're probably thinking, dude, let it go. My brain is with you on that. It's a cheap lesson in the game of life. Let the next guy deal with him.

My heart on the other hand say guests should not be treated like that and the company needs to know about it.
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I know a lot of people are telling you to file a chargeback with your credit card, but here are a couple of things to think about before doing that.

- Win or lose, the rental agency will likely close your account and blacklist you from doing business with them in the future. If the agency is "Mom's & Pop's A1 Vacation Rentals", you may not care. If it's AirBnB or VRBO, and you plan to rent from them in the future, that might be a bigger annoyance. I assume the host will leave you a bad review, so it may be hard to rent from them again anyway though.

- Even if you win a chargeback, that just stops the agency from charging your credit card again. It does not stop them from sending the debt to a collections agency and dinging your credit report. You might think they won't go to those lengths over $100, but it's pretty common to sell packages of bad debt for pennies on the dollar, so you might just get lumped in with 500 other chargebacks they lost and find yourself being dunned for this money again a year from now.
 
I have used a lot of vacation rentals... Until very recently we were travelling with kids in tow and a hotel room is TOO crowded to enjoy. Plus a kitchen makes vacations more flexible - especially if you are in a place for a week or more... Who wants to have to get dressed to get breakfast... But - I tend to research vrbo/airbnb places pretty thoroughly before renting.

As for the cameras... Cameras inside is super creepy. Could they have had external cameras aimed at the windows (to see inside). Still creepy, but possibly more legal. I know we are discussing with our granny flat tenants the placement of cameras to respect their privacy, but still provide security... aiming anywhere near a window is a non-starter for us and them.

Sorry your vacation had this bummer.
 
ikubak said:
A receipt for final charges has been requested but so far no response.from the company.
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No invoice issued by company? Maybe they are "not" going to charge you?

Have you reviewed your CC account to see what charges have posted or are pending? I for sure would do that pronto!! if nothing has yet posted--and does not post within the next week--perhaps company has already decided not to charge? Inquiring minds want to know!!
 
RetireeRobert said:
No invoice issued by company? Maybe they are "not" going to charge you?

Have you reviewed your CC account to see what charges have posted or are pending? I for sure would do that pronto!! if nothing has yet posted--and does not post within the next week--perhaps company has already decided not to charge? Inquiring minds want to know!!
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Paid in advance.
 
Ready said:
Speaking as someone with fourteen cameras installed in and around my home, I would not feel comfortable staying in a place where I was being watched that closely. A few external cameras around the property is one thing but there should be no cameras installed inside the property. If they disclose the cameras are installed I would not book a room there. It’s just creepy and over the top intrusive..
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+1, I agree. DW and I rent out our Florida home on AirBnB for part of the year, and we also have outside security cameras (we have 4). We disclose the external cameras in our AirBnB property description. We check the cameras usually once or twice when a new guest is first checking in, just to make sure the number of guests is what they said it would be, and also the number of vehicles (we only have room for 2 vehicles). Beyond that, we don't really check the cameras much at all, unless we hear about a problem from our property manager. I would never stay at a place that has cameras inside the house.........that's going way too intrusive.
 
ikubak said:
Paid in advance.
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Ok, thanks for that info. Then, given the charge and bill was "paid in advance", presumably some kind of "invoice" was available to you at that time (if even only a printout by you of the "reservation/booking page final charge"). So why would the company "now" be expected to give you another "final" invoice? Maybe that is why "no response" from the company to your request as regards that. They figure--been there done that already.
 
pb4uski said:
We usually stay in hotels but occasionally stay in AirBnB-type accomodations and all except one have been very good experiences, and that one exception was just ok.
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Yes, same here. We are AirBnB hosts, and we do NOT monitor our external cameras much at all, unless our property manager reports some kind of problem. I don't think the OP's experience is typical of the way most AirBnB hosts manage their properties. We have also stayed at several AirBnB's, and have usually had a very good experience.
 
RetireeRobert said:
Ok, thanks for that info. Then, given the charge and bill was "paid in advance", presumably some kind of "invoice" was available to you at that time (if even only a printout by you of the "reservation/booking page final charge"). So why would the company "now" be expected to give you another "final" invoice? Maybe that is why "no response" from the company to your request as regards that. They figure--been there done that already.
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I was issued a refund of a small amount. I indicated that I did not know what this refund was for. I have an invoice of the prepaid amount but I don't have an invoice of the final amount. Was I charged for four people for one night, two people for two nights? I don't know. This may seem petty but I don't know what I was charged for. It seems like a reasonable request from a customer. A final invoice would let me know but they don't seem to care to respond to me.
 
retire to nature said:
But from my perspective, blocking camera is big red card. I think thats why you were kicked out. you brought guests without telling and blocked camera. Host's concern and anxiety will go up. They know they followed where they can install the camera not to show privacy. so from their viewpoint, no problem.
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Yes, I think I agree with this conclusion, after reading through all the posts and trying to understand what happened. I doubt that the owner of the property had internal cameras, but your blocking of the external camera did not allow him to see how many people were using the house. That is a problem, especially if the owner specified in the listing that additional house guests must be disclosed, even if they are not overnight guests.
 
RetireeRobert said:
I notice OP's forum name is " ikubak". Which is "Kabuki" spelled backwards.

Which is a form of Japanese stylized drama: https://www.dictionary.com/browse/kabuki

OP's whole story of his lodging travails is very, very dramatic, that is for sure.
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Good catch Robert! Kabuki is my college nickname but the username was already taken when I came to the forum years ago. It has nothing to do with Japanese theatre, more to do with wrestling. l am anything but a dramatic person.
 
pb4uski said:
No, I wouldn't let it go. I would do everything that I could and follow alot of Gumby's suggestions regarding the legality of the cameras that the host had and do as much as I could to make his life a living hell... for the fun of it.
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I disagree. We don't even know if there were internal cameras.........what I have read so far makes me think there were none. The host may have overreacted a bit to the OP's blocking of the external camera, but I don't think that warrants making his life a "living hell..........for the fun of it".
 
pb4uski said:
I'm with Walt... if the host is that paranoid then they shouldn't be in the business.
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I’ve rented many houses this way in a few countries. So much more relaxing than a hotel room.

Seems this owner is either a rookie or control freak. Rookie is naive. Paranoid/ control freak is wrong business. I side with OP and probably wouldn’t have done anything different than jump on CC dispute claim promptly.

I also have goofed off (nothing vulgar) in front of suspected external cameras. If they want to watch, give them a show. Fortunately, never suspected an internal camera.

FWIW, we usually leave place as clean as we found it and volunteer any damage.

I appreciate this thread and insights so I am smarter for next rental, which I hope is soon.
 
ikubak said:
I was issued a refund of a small amount. I indicated that I did not know what this refund was for. I have an invoice of the prepaid amount but I don't have an invoice of the final amount. Was I charged for four people for one night, two people for two nights? I don't know. This may seem petty but I don't know what I was charged for. It seems like a reasonable request from a customer. A final invoice would let me know but they don't seem to care to respond to me.
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OK, that bit of additional information makes that issue more understandable.

Yes, you should be entitled to some final "accounting" since it is different than what you understood should be the charges at time of booking. Company's lack of response in this situation is poor customer service (i.e., "no" customer service!). An online review disclosing their lack of concern is more than appropriate, IMO.
 
RetireeRobert said:
I notice OP's forum name is " ikubak". Which is "Kabuki" spelled backwards.

Which is a form of Japanese stylized drama: https://www.dictionary.com/browse/kabuki

OP's whole story of his lodging travails is very, very dramatic, that is for sure.
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Having watched ikubak on video every day for 174 days straight under trying circumstances, I can assure you that he is no drama queen, nor prone to overstatement.
 
I don't put 100% of the fault on the owner (more like 95%). I think he's probably a paranoid control freak and I find lying about local laws very cocerning but I understand everyone has their issues. I know I have a quirky way of talking and dealing with people and I usually let my wife (she- sales rep, me-accountant) deal with people because it's just not my forte. She is so much better at it than I am. She would have finessed her way through this but we both still think the whole thing is creepy. But with that said, I grew up in an era when the customer was highly valued. Today as a customer, I'm not feeling the love like I did 40 years ago. The company I'm dealing with (NO, I will not reveal name) is one I won't feel comfortable with again. Lesson learned.
 
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